The Purple Sakura
by spinner
Summary: Draco struggles to transcend


Standard Disclaimers Apply [Not mine]  
  
No Spoilers...I think.  
Happens after GoF  
Not spell checked, so there may be typos and misplaced words.  
  
  
  
The Purple Sakura  
  
  
  
*Summer*   
  
  
"Draco, you do know what you should be practicing while I'm gone. Stop fiddling with that damned violin." His father watched disapprovingly as his son tucked away the aforementioned instrument. "You think you can charm your enemies with your music? Honestly! I thought I had enough of your childishness! You do know that you should be doing something useful."  
  
"Yes, father." Draco replied obediently. But, he wanted his father to stay, even if it meant scolding him.   
  
"Then practice those spells I have deemed for rigorous study!" Lucius almost bellowed, his face agitated, his body tense. He was a wreck. Draco kept his eyes from making a further study of his father.   
  
"I'll be leaving for business shortly. I won't have time to watch you stumble over these easy spells. How is it that you are excellent in things which are either completely unhelpful or deemed unnecessary? I don't have the time to be cuddled with your useless talents."   
  
Draco bit his tongue, keeping his retort at bay. It was nervousness that was making his father rant.  
  
"I don't want you fiddling with your violin or experimenting with your potions unsupervised! Practice when you're at Hogwarts. Last time had been disastrous enough when you decided to test your hypothesis!"   
  
"Stop being jumpy," Draco said, unable to keep his mouth shut.  
  
His father suddenly went rigid. Then, he sighed. "Forgive me. I'm being inessentially irritated. Now, you know what you're responsibilities are. Hm?" Watching Draco intently, he said, "I don't have anymore time to listen and reprimand you with your idiotic pastimes."  
  
With a parental glare, Lucius left the parlor, leaving Draco staring stupidly at the door.   
  
"You idiot," he said to the empty room.  
  
Outside, a purple Sakura tree bloomed. The branches hung rather tiredly as its blossoms fell like silent tears.  
  
  
  
*Christmas Break*  
  
  
"You hate it, don't you? You hate it that he stumbles," his mother's voice a sudden dissonance in the stream of music.  
  
He continued playing the violin, not wanting to say the obvious. But, saying it unburdens it a little. For a while, the painful reality is a detached world. At least for a moment, it would be easy.   
  
Draco kept his eyes closed. His melody answered her: the violin suddenly moaning with a surprising intensity. After that burst of emotion had passed, he felt his mother's aching gaze.   
  
He finished his song awkwardly. He did not want to finish. He did not want to speak of truth right now.   
  
"Look at the Sakura, Draco." Narcissa said.   
  
Draco did as he was told; the violin was neglected, that full glory of a music ending was destroyed by impulse of deep introspection. He stood beside his mother to watch a familiar winter spectacle: The Sakura tree was still blooming majestically in the heart of the garden despite the winter. Every flower and tree has gone to sleep, except for the strange violet Sakura, whose petals fell away from the tree as new blossoms struggled their way to maturity. This year, however, it seems like the tree is trying very hard to replace its dying blossoms. The Sakura looked very tired. He felt a twinge of despair. "Doesn't die. If you remove the spell though, it's gone."  
  
His mother unhurriedly gave a bittersweet smile. "You think future circumstances will make our Sakura yield despite everything that I have done?"  
  
"It can't be summer forever. Everything yields, mother. It's our nature to yield."  
  
He felt a pang of resentment. When his mother refused to speak, he offered as an apology, "That was cruel."  
  
"Yes, yes, it was." She placed her fingers against the glass window. "Though, it's not exaggeration of bitterness on your part. It is merely accurate," Narcissa whispered forgivingly. "You think I have not given enough?" Draco felt like he had slapped his gentle mother with undiluted hatred.  
  
The world had gone quiet again.   
  
For an endless moment, Draco was afraid he was right. He watched in dismay as more and more petals fell away from the branches.  
  
Unexpectedly, he felt his mother's soft fingers stroking his hand. "You know it is my desperate wish to let the Sakura bloom. I won't ever let my Sakura yield. I have devoted many, many years to make my Sakura strong. I know my Sakura will not fail me."   
  
He felt a sharp stabbing of fear. Fear of disappointment. Fear of danger. Fear of hesitation. "What if it succumbs, mother? What if the Sakura yields like the ones before him?"   
  
The Sakura stood regally against a mad lashes of furious winds, the purple petals dancing haphazardly in the air; the branches suddenly seemingly bare. All blossoms drifted to be lost in the winter.  
  
"My son, you know if it does succumb, it won't forever." His mother smiled enigmatically and lovingly, her fingers warm and tightly holding to his. "I've given the Sakura all my eternal summer."  
  
Draco smiled back, sensing a certain yet unknown conviction inside himself; feeling a little foolish for it, but feeling strangely, a little wiser and stronger.   
  
  
  
  
Long after the winds have calmed and their wait was over, the anticipated blossoms smiled to be bathed in moonlight.  
  
  
  
-End-  
  
  
Ramblings:  
  
The Sakura (Cherry Blossom Tree) has pink blossoms. Japan is famous for Sakura Trees. The color doesn't work for this fic, so I changed it. *smile* Besides, I like the idea of a purple Sakura.  
  
I don't know much about Narcissa, but it was implied in GoF that she loves her son.   
  
This is my First Fanfic. I don't know if this is a really bad fic or it's OK enough. So puhweeze C&C! Constructive criticism is always begged for. :) 


End file.
